In known spade drills such as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,049,033, 3,076,357, 3,658,434, and 3,776,656, the holder is of cylindrical form with diametrically opposed longitudinally extending grooves for chips, and the blade clamping slot at the end of the holder has plane faces which are symmetrical about their longitudinal center lines whereby the blade, when clamped in the holder, must have substantial axial overhang with respect to ends of such blade clamping faces in order to provide adequate chip clearance between the cutting edges and the ends of the holder. Moreover, in such known spade drills the holder is provided with parallel flats adjacent the bottom of the blade clamping slot which are engaged by corresponding parallel plane faces on the blade to center the blade with respect to the holder.
In the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,658,434 and 3,776,656, the slotted end of the holder is beveled or chamfered on both sides of each clamping face thus sacrificing rigidity of the blade clamping and again providing the relatively large axial overhang of the cutting edges with respect to the cutting load supporting zones of said clamping faces.